1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus case with a rotatable member, such as a wrist watch case, an electronic timer case, or a compass case.
2. Description of the Related Art
A type of wrist watch has a rotation bezel as a rotation member on its case body to decorate its appearance and to give it a high-graded appearance, as well as to set a timer time or to confirm an elapse of time. The rotation bezel is mounted on the case body to be rotatable in forward and reverse directions. However, a freely rotatable bezel is disadvantageous in that the set time may be changed accidentally. In the conventional wrist watch, to overcome this disadvantage, the rotation bezel has a rugged portion having concavities and convexities on its lower surface and the case body has a plate spring which elastically abuts against the rugged portion. With this structure, the rotation bezel can be rotated in only one direction.
A wrist watch or the like may be more convenient if the rotation bezel is rotatable in forward and reverse directions or in only one direction, in accordance with the user's need and the way of use. For example, if the watch is used as a minutes-timer (e.g., 60-minutes-timer) in which time is measured by the scale of the rotation bezel and the movement of the minute hand, it is desirable that the rotation bezel is rotatable in only one direction during the time measuring operation, since the rotation bezel must not be rotated erroneously and need not be rotated in 60 minutes, once a timer time is set. In contrast, if time count in units of a second on the basis of the scale of the rotational bezel and the movement of the second hand is repeated many times, it is desirable that the rotation bezel be rotatable in both directions, since the scale must be immediately adjusted to the second hand of the watch.
However, in the conventional structure, the bezel is preset to be rotated either one direction or both directions, the user cannot change the preset direction or directions. Even if the rotation bezel rotatable in only one direction is used in the 60-minutes-timer as described above, it is disadvantageous in that it may be erroneously rotated in the preset direction.